One of the most interesting things from the reading this week for me was the chapter about all of the lessons Rigoberta had learned form her mother. Particularly, I was really interested in the intersection between gender, family, and revolution, and how Rigoberta and her mother each thought about these issues. In one of my other classes, I wrote a paper on gender and revolution during the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua, and I am interested in the connections and differences between that movement and this one. In both cases, it seems that the revolutionary philosophy tends to emphasize the differences between the roles of women and men, but this is seen predominantly as a strength rather than a weakness. There is some nuance here, however, as Rigoberta’s mother talks about how her own mother saw no differences between the men’s and women’s struggles. Despite this, she writes about the importance of continuing to “feel a woman.” This reminds me of Nicaragua, where poor women were often brought into the struggle first for class struggle, while rich women came from more of a perspective of feminism first and developed a sense of class struggle later. I wonder if this dynamic played out similarly in Guatemala, or if things unfolded differently. Also on that note, I found the bit about Rigoberta’s mom treating children of her fellow guerillas like her own children to be very reminiscent of the Cuban revolutionary movement.

Rigoberta’s motivations for revolutionary action do prove to be a main theme in the second half of the book. She talks with her sister about using the pain to motivate action, but Rigoberta doesn’t seem totally convinced, and has a hard time dealing with suffering. On the same theme as my above writing, as a follow up to the relationship between gender and class struggle in revolutions, I also wonder about the relationship between Christianity and Marxist revolutionaries. Rigoberta speaks to this a bit in the last chapter, but I am curious to know more about how the history of Christianity in Guatemala influences how religion plays a role in uniting revolutionaries.

I also wonder about the relationship between Rigoberta’s mother’s opinion that she “didn’t belong to any specific organization. She said what was important was doing something for our people,” and Rigoberta’s own views on this book as a project. As we talked about last class, Rigoberta was sent to represent all poor Guatemalans by a specific organization, but this fact isn’t mentioned much in the introduction. Whether this choice is more of a reflection of the translator or of Rigoberta’s views I am not sure, but this quote did get me thinking about how Rigoberta might see herself and her own role in the revolutionary struggle.